Samurai Film Series at SIFF [Seattle]

Posted on August 27, 2013 by LM

UPDATE: now with dates and times!

Via the PNWJETAA Transitions Team:

Harakiri_Poster

Love classic samurai films? The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)’s Samurai Film Series is planned for September and October 2013 and includes seven films.

SIFF Cinema Uptown
511 Queen Anne Avenue N
Seattle, WA 98109

Website: http://www.emergingpictures.com/series/samurai-cinema/

The seven films:

Monday, Sept. 9, 7:00 pm
Seven Samurai (『七人の侍』) (1954). Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

In Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai), sixteenth-century villagers hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This gripping three-hour ride is one of the most beloved movie epics of all time.

Monday, Sept. 16, 7:00 pm
Harakiri (『切腹』) (1962). Directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

Following the collapse of his clan, an unemployed samurai (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on the property. Iyi’s clansmen, believing the desperate ronin is merely angling for a new position, try to force his hand and get him to eviscerate himself—but they have underestimated his beliefs and his personal brand of honor. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize, Harakiri, directed by Masaki Kobayashi is a fierce evocation of individual agency in the face of a corrupt and hypocritical system.

Monday, Sept. 23, 7:00 pm
Kill! (『斬る』) (1968). Directed by Kihachi Okamota.

In this pitch-black action comedy by Kihachi Okamoto, a pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin. Based on the same source novel as Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, Kill! playfully tweaks samurai film convention, borrowing elements from established chanbara classics and seasoning them with a little Italian western.

Monday, Sept. 30, 7:00 pm
Yojimbo (『用心棒』) (1962). Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

A wandering ronin (Mifune), realizes a skilled Yojimbo (bodyguard) could rake in the ryo in this town. And after checking out the sake merchant’s thugs squaring off against the silk merchant’s goon squad, twice as much, if he hires out to both sides.

Monday, Oct. 7, 7:00 pm
The Sword of Doom (『大菩薩峠』) (1966). Directed by Kihachi Okamoto.

Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune star in the story of a wandering samurai who exists in a maelstrom of violence. A gifted swordsman—plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule—Ryunosuke (Nakadai) kills without remorse, without mercy. It is a way of life that ultimately leads to madness.

Monday, Oct. 14, 7:00 pm
Samurai Rebellion (『上意討ち 拝領妻始末』) (1967). Directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi’s Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice.

Monday, Oct. 21, 7:00 pm
The Hidden Fortress (『隠し砦の三悪人』) (1959). Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Two constantly bickering farmers on the run from clan wars are dragooned by General Makabe Rokurōta into aiding his rescue of fugitive princess Yuki Akizuki and her family’s hidden gold. Acknowledged as the source for Star Wars.

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Call For Papers: Revisiting the Emancipatory Potential of Digital Media in Asia

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Call for Papers: Revisiting the Emancipatory Potential of Digital Media in Asia (23-25 January 2014 at Leiden University)

The academic journal Asiascape – Digital Asia (DIAS), in collaboration with the Goto-Jones VICI project “Beyond  Utopia” funded by the  Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research  (NWO), welcomes
scholars from the area studies, communication sciences, cultural studies,  humanities, and social sciences, as well as from multi-disciplinary  backgrounds, to this international conference on digital media in Asia.

Abstract

Over the past decade, new forms of information and communication  technologies have shaped the way people relate to each other, engage in  social activities, conduct commerce, and participate in political processes. The inception of so-called Web 2.0 services such as Facebook in  2004, Youtube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006, has introduced a degree of  interactivity to communication processes that surpasses that of previous  technologies.

Numerous companies from around the world have since imitated the success  of these large networking, video-sharing, and micro-blogging sites. The  popularity of such interactive digital media has meanwhile generated much  debate regarding the emancipatory potential of these tools – a debate that  has largely focuses on American and European experiences, and that in its  extreme revolves on the one hand around the arguments of liberal scholars  like Clay Shirky or Yochai Benkler, who emphasize the potential of such technologies to empower citizens, and on the other hand around the concerns of cultural critics like Evgeny Morozov or Sherry Turkle, who see these innovations as exploitative, domineering, and potentially damaging.

This international conference moves such debates to Asia, and confronts them with the realities of digital media usage in this vibrant region. How does citizen journalism work in countries like China, Malaysia, or Singapore, where citizens have constructed information networks through blogs and tweets that run parallel to official mainstream media, and where states and ruling parties attempt to control such processes through sophisticated information and communication technologies? What are we to make of citizen consultation in light of the Indonesian case, where  politicians use social media to shore up support from online communities  by prompting them to take over social responsibilities that were originally part of the state’s social service portfolio? How should we assess the contentious nature of digital media in light of Indian examples, where such media help coordinate anti-corruption movements while at the same time entrenching the middle-class interests that inform these movements? Meanwhile, in Japan how do we gauge the political and social impact of alternative forms of journalism and novel forms of protest facilitated by digital media in the wake of the March 2011 triple disaster, as well as the subsequent use of social media as a platform for revisionist politicians? In South Korea, how do youth groups come together on international social networking sites and on local alternatives like Cyworld or me2day as they develop alternatives to mainstream Korean culture, and what role do smartphones and other mobile technologies play in these processes?

By analysing such cases, this conference critically asks how we can overcome dichotomies such as emancipation vs. domination in the study of digital media, and how we can instead explain the transformative role of such media in all its complexity.

Conference Themes

The conference will address the questions regarding the emancipatory potential of digital media in Asia by focusing in particular on issues such as:

Continue reading →

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Funding: Ukiyo-e Research Grant

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Paula

Doing research on ukiyo-e? Art historians may want to check out the PDF announcement below from the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum, located in Tokyo, which is offering a research grant! The deadline is October 31, 2013.

Ukiyoe Research Grant

The information can also be found online here:

http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/H20josei-E.html

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Thanks!

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Paula

Happy 1,001 email subscribers, everyone! Not to discount Twitter and Facebook, of course. 😉 Thanks for sticking with us and continuing to make this blog great! More great stuff coming soon!

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Job Opening: Research Associate / Research Fellow position at UNU-ISP

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Paula

job opening - 5A Research Associate / Research Fellow position is now open at the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP). One of the main responsibilities will be on a new project we have started, the Fukushima Global Communication Programme:

English: http://isp.unu.edu/research/fukushima-global-communication/index.html
Japanese: http://isp.unu.edu/jp/research/fukushima-global-communication/index.html

This is a really exciting new project and this position is perfect for an early career researcher with some experience in either human security or natural disasters / issues related to Fukushima and nuclear accidents.

The full position description is here:

http://unu.edu/about/hr/academic/research-fellow-4.html

Deadline: September 22, 2013
If you have any specific questions about it, feel free to contact:

Dr. Christopher Hobson
Research Fellow
Institute for Sustainability and Peace
United Nations University
5-53-70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

Tel: +81-3-5467-1329
Email: hobson@unu.edu

Web: http://christopherhobson.net/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hobson_c

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Book Announcement: The Aesthetics of Strangeness: Eccentricity and Madness in Early Modern Japan

Posted on August 25, 2013 by LM

EccentricitiesVia University of Hawai’i Press.

Author: Brecher, W. Puck
272pp. July 2013
Cloth – Price: $42.00ISBN: 978-0-8248-3666-5

Eccentric artists are “the vagaries of humanity” that inhabit the deviant underside of Japanese society: This was the conclusion drawn by pre–World War II commentators on most early modern Japanese artists. Postwar scholarship, as it searched for evidence of Japan’s modern roots, concluded the opposite: The eccentric, mad, and strange are moral exemplars, paragons of virtue, and shining hallmarks of modern consciousness. In recent years, the pendulum has swung again, this time in favor of viewing these oddballs as failures and dropouts without lasting cultural significance. This work corrects the disciplinary (and exclusionary) nature of such interpretations by reconsidering the sudden and dramatic emergence of aesthetic eccentricity during the Edo period (1600–1868). It explains how, throughout the period, eccentricity (ki) and madness (kyō)developed and proliferated as subcultural aesthetics. By excavating several generations of early modern Japan’s eccentric artists, it demonstrates that individualism and strangeness carried considerable moral and cultural value. Indeed, Edo society fetishized various marginal personae—the recluse, the loser, the depraved, the outsider, the saint, the mad genius—as local heroes and paragons of moral virtue. This book concludes that a confluence of intellectual, aesthetic, and social conditions enabled multiple concurrent heterodoxies to crystallize around strangeness as a prominent cultural force in Japanese society.

A study of impressive historical and disciplinary breadth, The Aesthetics of Strangenessalso makes extensive use of primary sources, many previously overlooked in existing English scholarship. Its coverage of the entire Edo period and engagement with both Chinese and native Japanese traditions reinterprets Edo-period tastes and perceptions of normalcy. By wedding art history to intellectual history, literature, aesthetics, and cultural practice, W. Puck Brecher strives for a broadly interdisciplinary perspective on this topic. Readers will discover that the individuals that form the backbone of his study lend credence to a new interpretation of Edo-period culture: a growing valuation of eccentricity within artistic and intellectual circles that exerted indelible impacts on mainstream society. The Aesthetics of Strangeness demystifies this emergent paradigm by illuminating the conditions and tensions under which certain rubrics of strangeness—ki and kyō particularly—were appointed as aesthetic criteria. Its revision of early modern Japanese culture constitutes an important contribution to the field.

26 illus.

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Happy Birthday, Shinpai Deshou!

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Paula

Photo by soapylovedeb

In the midst of my end-of-summer insanity and my trip to California for a language workshop, I completely forgot that our blog’s birthday passed on July 30th! We turned three! Hooray!

Much thanks to all of our bloggers and the many readers who have stuck with us over the past three years (or just signed up)! We’re very grateful for your readership and all your feedback. We hope you’ll continue to help us to make this blog a great resource for everyone interested in Japanese and Japanese Studies, old and new.

If you have any questions or comments, or just want to say hey on this, our month-belated birthday, remember you can always contact us via email (shinpai.deshou@gmail.com), Twitter (https://twitter.com/shinpaideshou) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ShinpaiDeshou).

Cheers!

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Job Opening: Regional Advisor (Asia), Education Abroad Program, UC Santa Barbara

Posted on August 23, 2013 by LM

job opening - 5

Via JETWit.com.

Position: Regional Advisor
Institution: University of California Santa Barbara
Type: Full-time
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Education: BA required, MA preferred
Deadline: Aug. 27, 2013; 10 pm PT

Overview:
The campus office of the Education Abroad Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara is recruiting for a Regional Advisor (Job # 20130370). The Regional Advisor will be responsible for recruitment, advising, selection and orientation for programs in Asia.

The University of California’s Education Abroad Program (UC EAP) is the largest study abroad program in the United States, providing student academic exchanges and integration of international study opportunities into UC curricula. EAP offers diverse programs to UC undergraduate and graduate students in 300+ program options in more than 40 countries. UCSB provides EAP advising services to more than 2,000 prospective applicants each year, sends more than 800 students overseas, receives more than 300 international reciprocal exchange students, and supports the reentry and cultural readjustment of more than 800 returned students.

Summary of Job Duties
Under general supervision of the Associate Director and working in close coordination with a team of regional advisors, responsible for student recruitment, selection, orientation and reentry activities for the UC Education Abroad Program (UC EAP). Regional responsibility for programs in an assigned number of EAP’s 300+ program options in more than 40 countries. Advises prospective applicants regarding requirements, availability of courses, academic credit, and financial matters, primarily for programs in Asia. Serves as resource for students abroad and as liaison to campus and systemwide offices. Helps select EAP scholarship recipients. Assists returned students in areas of enrollment, academic progress, petitions, and cultural readjustment.

Minimum Requirements
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and prior work experience. Significant student academic advising experience in a college/university setting. Previous professional experience in international education. Familiarity with UC system and study abroad program options. Overseas study and/or work experience. Excellent interpersonal, public relations and oral/written communication skills. Excellent judgment and ability to deal with difficult situations. Strong customer service orientation. Demonstrated experience interacting diplomatically with diverse constituency of students, parents, faculty, staff, systemwide offices and governmental agencies. High level of organizational skill/attention to detail. Able to work as a member of a team and maintain professional demeanor under deadline pressure in a high-volume, continuous public contact setting. Demonstrated skill in event planning and public speaking. Strong computer skills.

Desirable Requirements

  • Familiarity with regional and national study abroad networks and resources.
  • An understanding of current issues and best practices in international education.
  • Master’s degree in a related field.

Position funded through 6/30/15. Extension possible depending on continued funding.

Full application details at UC Santa Barbara’s employment website.
Job Number 20130370

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Fun Link Friday: Musical Kitchenware

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Paula

Maybe this fascinated me even more because it was so late at night when I stumbled across it, but these guys Sou and Kumama in Tokyo are making music with everyday kitchenware like spoons and cheapo dishes, and it is blowing my mind.

 

Really, I feel like I should be accomplishing more in life just by watching how easy they’re making this seem. And from this video, I’m sure they could keep going! The original Rocket News 24 article on them here has a couple more videos of their performances, and apparently you can also go to their website and contact them, so check it out!

Happy Friday!

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Job Opening: Education Abroad Advisor, University of Kentucky

Posted on August 23, 2013 by LM

job opening - 5Via JETWit.com.

Position: Education Abroad Advisor
Posted by: University of Kentucky
Type: Full-time
Location:  Lexington, Kentucky
Education: Masters Degree and one year experience (or equivalency)
Deadline: Sept. 2, 2013

Overview:
Education Abroad at the University of Kentucky (UK International Center) is seeking a full-time Education Abroad Advisor to join our professional team. The Education Abroad office is a thriving part of UK’s ambitious international agenda, and has strong central support. It is currently composed of an Executive Director, Assistant Director, four EA Advisors, a Financial Manager, Promotion and Outreach Coordinator, and an Office Manager. In addition, the unit employs several part-time staff and a team of graduate and undergraduate students who serve as Education Abroad Peer Advisors (EAPA).

Founded in 1865 as a land-grant institution adjacent to downtown Lexington, the University of Kentucky is nestled in the scenic heart of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. Recently ranked as one of the safest, most creative, and the brainiest cities in the nation, Lexington is an ideal location to experience the work-life balance that the University strives to provide to its employees. See for yourself what makes UK one great place to work.

Position Description:
The EA Advisor will work closely with students at all phases of the education abroad process, including promotion and outreach, advising and selection, on-going orientation, credit transfer, etc. The advisor will become an expert on a wide range of educational opportunities available to UK students within our strategic portfolio of programs and must know the details of the programs, including application procedures and deadlines. The successful candidate will be knowledgeable about other countries and international travel, including systems of higher education, culture, and health, safety, and safety issues. The EA Advisor must commit to understanding curricula and procedures at UK and liaise with key faculty and relevant offices such as Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid, Career Center, Undergraduate Research and college advising units. Other job responsibilities include data collection/reporting, program development and active participation in professional organizations.

Each EA Advisor specializes in one strategically important goal of the office (i.e, on-going orientation, EAPA program management, internships & service-learning). For this particular advising position, the advisor will oversee the on-going maintenance of our enrollment management system (utilizing Studio Abroad) and manage our online web presence.

Skills/Knowledge/Ability:
Successful candidates will have international education experience, education abroad/student advising experience, familiarity with intercultural learning, and successful promotion and outreach experience. Candidates must have excellent communication and presentation skills, attention to detail, time management skills, and a high degree of professionalism. Desirable qualities include skills in outcomes assessment related to education abroad, familiarity with non-European countries and cultures, proficiency in languages other than English, and knowledge of StudioAbroad software.

Education and Preferred Experience:
Masters Degree and one year experience (or equivalency) is required. Experience in education abroad, advising/counseling, and/or international services is preferred.

Application:
To apply for the position, a UK Online Application must be submitted athttp://www.uky.edu/HR/welcome.html position number SC548093 (Student Affairs Officer II).

Questions should be directed to HR/Employment, phone 859-257-9555, press 2.

Application deadline is September 2, 2013.

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